9 "You are always learning something new"

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DEar dIaRy,

i mesSed up, why dId it haVe to EnD thiS wAy….

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Azrael arrived in the village and decided to attend the Funeral of 2 of his friends. Everyone had seen him from the back, but none of them resented him. They were all just sad at the death of the kids in the village. Some wished they could have helped, but in the end, what had been done was done, and nothing anyone did could change that.

The man who had been conducting the ceremony spoke loudly, grabbing everyone's attention. "If you wish to say some words to the children and adults we have lost, please step forward."

Few people stood up, said a few words, and returned to where they had been seated. Everyone spoke from the heart, and even some of the villagers who had spoken cried while standing.

"*Do I have the right to even say something after what I did? What will I even say?*" he got engulfed by his insecure thoughts, wondering will he ever feel better? Will things ever go back to normal?

"Mei. Do you think.... Do you think I should go say something?" Azrael spoke abruptly, lightly startling Mei. But when she heard him speak, she had already thought of what to say. She knew what to say both in her mind and heart.

"What! Are you serious?!" Mei shouted softly while looking a little bit angry; Azrael thought she would condemn him on the spot.

"Of course you can! Your friends would want you to speak at their funeral. You owe them that at least?"Mei acted out; she had expected Azrael to go up without doubts and speak.

"Umm… I don't know... *sigh*, I might as well go. I need to apologize for what I have done one way or another." Azrael strolled slowly and stood in front of everyone. He had felt the perspire starting to form on his back and on his head. Words could not come out; he certainly knew he would have trouble but decided to just do it.

"Morning everyone, My name Is Azrael, and these 2 are my friends who have died. I wanted to apologize to them because if only I had kept my sister safe, they would not have joined me to help return her. As their friend, I was selfish and only thought about saving my sister and never bothered about the circumstances or trouble that might occur when going to save her. I deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart and very soul. I had never wanted this to happen!" He started crying as he got onto his knees, bowed down, and apologized to his friends, parents, and their family members.

What in return he received was something that left Azrael at a loss for words.

The father of one of the friends got down on 1 knee and took Azrael by the shoulder and said, "Azrael, my boy, stand up; we all knew what our children went and did. They told us that they might not come back and hug us goodbye. They had known and do not blame you at all; they were just happy to help you for a change. Since you are always helping everyone else…." as he said those words, he starts to cry, and the last words that came out of the old man's mothers were "... our son never looked so happy than to help you knowing what could happen." he smiled with tears rolling down.

Azrael cried, even more, his eyes flickering because of the incoming light against the tears in his eyes. "*I thought he would hate me. I was sure of it, but he thanked me? *Sniff* I… I…. I can't believe it…*" Azrael thought to himself as he wiped away his tears and whispered a broken word "th.. *sniff*.. ank *sniff* you."

As for what happened after that, well, Azrael felt relieved of a burden but will never forget the pain. He learnt a lesson that changed his life but not him. He has a happy family and will enjoy his time with them, but he will never neglect to protect them. The same value applied towards friends he made.

5 days had gone by, and Azrael had gone to visits his friend's grave every day. He worked harder than usual every day and studied extra.

…..

"Okay, so listen up today; we are going to learn about the history of the world we are living in!" Mrs. Gilda started off with this first sentence of the teaching day.

Her appearance had not changed. Gilda had worn a shirt with a blazer, a skirt, and high heels. The regular clothes of middle-aged business woman. Although Mrs. Gilda looked like a middle-aged woman of the 21st century, she was very young in the world of cultivation.

"In history, we will be talking about the 20th, 21st, and 22nd century. In these time periods, there had been a build-up and fall of the pandemic—the coronavirus or also known as covid-19. At that time, many had assumptions; some had said that it was fake or it was the government who had just wanted to stop people from going outside and causing harm to the environment. People assumed it had been government experiments; the experiments were meant for wars, they said, but all of them were wrong. What caused this pandemic was nothing other than magic. The world had many things going wrong for them, and it all happened because magic started appearing." Kayla had a pen in her mouth as she frowned at the slight pause in Gildas's voice.

"Unfortunately, all the people who were first to discover ruins and magical books had wanted to watch the world burn and suffer!" Gilda had brought up a holographic display with her light magic. Azrael was amazed at the sight but also horrified by what the people had done. He thought he would be able to eat and take down notes, but all he could do was just take down notes as the appetite that was there had been gone now.

"That's….. That's really sad; why would people wish to see the world burn?" Azrael had been confused. Stealing, killing, and etc. have motives because of someone's rude actions.

"*But why the whole world? Aren't there people who are innocent and don't deserve it? It makes no sense?*" was the thought that ran through Kayla's mind. She had not found what those people have done any bit okay; putting many people who don't deserve it at death's door had been an unforgivable act.

"Some men or women don't need a motive; they just do things because in their mind they thought that everyone deserved it. But only after 200 years did the gods decide to come in and intervene. They had created a system for everyone; all the books they called mangas, manhwas, manhuas, webtoons, novels, and fantasy books ideas and ideals were brought to life. The shows like Naruto, demon slayer, My hero academia, One-piece, and Tokyo ghoul had had their own time period. The world had been rebuilt, the magic system after the magic system was tested out, and at each turn, those worlds got destroyed by the evil god. None of those power systems worked. So the god's council decided to create a power system with users. The users can get any power as long as they know what they want and build their own techniques or follow ready-made techniques. This system was known to be the most powerful. People have reached as far as the level of demi-god, which was way higher than any other power system."

Gilda cleared her throat. The pictures had zoomed in by showing what previous ideas and thoughts of power systems were.

"Altho for each universe, the power displayed is great and can rival even those with our system at demi-god level. They never had a chance to expand and grow big enough before the evil god had destroyed them without them knowing, and thus they never could continue to become great." Gilda smacked the board.

"Mrs. Gilda, who is the Evil god you keep referring to?" Azrael had a valid question, a question that should be answered.

"I would tell you but, I will let you know the name in another lesson?" She edged on the question as a statement.

Azrael sighed in agreement and nodded and carried on listening to Gilda explain how the 20th, 21st, 22nd centuries had allowed the previous ideas of what the power system should look to come into reality.

The power system of each era changed; each power system could be said to be on equal footing with each other. But no one really knows as the heroes and most influential characters of each era died to protect everyone.

"... and that's how the power of users have come in today." Gilda closed the hologram and did what every teacher did, "Are there any questions?" before the kids could think of any, she replied with "Well, none? Good, it will be the end of today's lessons. Enjoy the rest of the day off, Bye." and she had waved with a smile, and hoping the kids would leave soon so she could enjoy the rest of the day to herself.

With that another day had gone by.